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EYES OF TEXAS-1948, 70 minutes. One of the lost Trucolors. Available in full black and white theatrical print versions, from the public domainers and YouTube, usually with the Trucolor credit blacked out.

I have EYES on an Alpha double feature with a full theatrical B&W print of GRAND CANYON TRAIL. TRAIL is rough looking. EYES is the better looking of the two, a little soft but very watchable. This double feature is recommended for completeness.

The story: A ranch for orphan boys, whose servicemen fathers were killed in WWII, is being run by Francis Ford, director John Ford's brother, with the help of The Pioneers. (What happened to the orphan's mothers and sisters is never addressed.)

Ford gets word from his lawyer, Nana Bryant, that his nephew, reported killed in action, has been found alive.

Ford is later believed to have been killed by a pack of wolves, just after changing his will, to favor his nephew.

U.S. Marshall, Roy is suspicious and interferes with the transfer of Ford's fortune to the nephew. Roy captures a wounded dog, one of the 'wolves'. Roy's dog Bullet plays the dog and is called El Lobo/Wolf, in the story.

This doesn't sit well with Bryant and henchman Roy Barcroft. Don't tell anyone, but they are behind, both, the murder of Ford by a pack of killer dogs, and a phony nephew, Danny Morton.

Roy Barcroft, Danny Morton, and Nana Bryant.

Before figuring everything out, Roy gets beat up by the bad guys in one of those nasty fighting sequences that happen in many of the post war Rogers movies, scripted by Sloan Nibley. In the running fight, Roy is saved, first, by Trigger and, later, by Andy Devine.

Veteran character actress, Nana Bryant is great as the ruthless bad gal. Bryant joined OUR MISS BROOKS, as a regular in the last season, but died after filming two episodes.

Lynne Roberts is back with Roy.

Andy Devine is the town doctor and Lynne Roberts is his nurse. Roberts is an attractive and friendly presence, This is Lynne Roberts eighth Roy Rogers movie, but the only one billed as Lynne Roberts. In the others she was billed as Mary Hart. Republic liked having their own Rogers and Hart. A play on the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart musical duo.

This is a good story with the female villain and dog angle. Trigger gets a lot of action too.

Supporting Actor

"Eyes of Texas" (1948), another one I haven't seen in ages. But any film with the pert and pretty Lynne Roberts is always worth a gander. As discussed earlier, she was one of the busiest actresses at Republic, behind only Vera Ralston and Dale Evans. In sheer numbers, I think Roberts was even in more films than Ralston (but not Evans), although both the films and Roberts' roles were far less prominent as a whole. Lynne Roberts' career also had that detour to Fox in the early-1940s, between her two Republic stays. Fox really only made ten b-westerns in the 1940s...six Cisco Kids with Cesar Romero, two Zane Grey offerings starring George Montgomery (before the studio quickly promoted him up to A-grade films), and two more with the rather forgotten John Kimbrough. Of those ten westerns, Lynne Roberts actually appeared in four of them!

Roberts also appeared in a couple of 'ghostly' b-comedies, "The Man in the Trunk" (1942) for Fox, and then, "The Ghost That Walks Alone" (1944) over at Columbia, right before her second stint at Republic started. The latter film was actually more of a comedy-mystery, without a supernatural element, as I recall. I have both films on tape, but haven't watched them in eons. Neither seemed particularly memorable, but they were at least better than Republic's "The Ghost Goes Wild" (1947), which I thought was one of Republic's lamest b-films. The one movie with Roberts I've been wanting to see for the longest time is "Trouble Preferred" (1948-Fox), in which she and Peggy Knudsen portray policewomen. Not too many old films about policewomen (another is Republic's "Women From Headquarters" from 1950). Both films are hard as heck to find, although they were both ostensibly included in tv-syndication packages back in the mid-1950s, and there should be some prints out there somewhere. I've owned three lobby-cards to "Trouble Preferred" for nearly 40 years, and I keep wondering if I'll ever finally get to see the film. Used to order b-movie lobby-cards, sight unseen, for about a buck a piece back then. I was buying these things going back to when I was in high school, usually from money I earned mowing yards. What a goofball kid I was.

Also, in regards to Francis Ford, the recent Kino collection "Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers" included some material from one of Ford's (and his frequent co-star and collaborator Grace Cunard) Universal serials, "The Purple Mask" (1917). The Ford-Cunard team was pretty big stuff back then, but not much of their work seems to survive. There is an independent western feature that Ford starred in, "Another Man's Boots" (1927), that commonly circulates. Grapevine Video put out a pretty nice-looking copy of it, and it's a rather enjoyable little horse-opera. I liked it quite a bit. Familiar baddie Bob Kortman shows up in it also, providing villainy. Always enjoy seeing Kortman in westerns... pretty scary-looking dude. Anyway, a nifty (albeit small-scale) little western of the antique variety.

Screenwriter

I took a look at "Republic Confidential- The Players". Of the three actresses Bert mentioned, Lynne Roberts beat Dale by one movie with 40 Republic film appearances. Vera Ralston was in 22. Adele Mara was in 44. I did not check to see if any other actress was in more Republics. I agree that Dale was probably billed higher the most times.

Bert, you noted another one of my minor actress favorites, Peggy Knudsen. She usually played fun brassy types.

Lynne Roberts and Peggy Knudsen in TROUBLE PREFERRED:

Couldn't find much cheesecake on Lynne Roberts, but there is plenty with Peggy Knudsen:

Watched the VCI 4- feature DVD of Bob Baker westerns.

Baker's bio states that he was chosen over Roy Rogers, (AKA Len Slye/Dick West), for the lead in the series of Universal singing cowboys movies, Baker starred in. Baker's real name was Stanley Weed. So Roy might have been 'Bob Baker'.

Baker with Hal Taliaferro and Marjorie Reynolds:

After starring in 12 westerns and co-starring with Johnny Mack Brown and Fuzzy Knight in six more, his singing cowboy career petered out. Baker served in WWII and Korea and later became a policeman.

Baker with Johnny Mack Brown and Fuzzy Knight:

Later on patrol:

Baker with Constance Moore and Dick Jones:

The VCI 4 were OK action and story wise, and Baker was OK too. I won't judge Baker after only four movies on his star meter. I don't remember if I ever had to warm up to Roy, Gene, Hoppy or Wild Bill.

Bob Baker rode a nice paint called, 'Apache'.

Remember how outlaws are also called 'owlhoots' sometimes? In BORDER WOLVES, Bob Baker is riding The Hoot Owl Trail and hooting like an owl to signal the owlhoots in hide-outs. I wonder if The Hoot Owl Trail was a real thing in the old west, or did the movie writers or western novelists come up with it?

Screenwriter

Then I recently found a color version photo of the event which identified it, as an episode of a NBC Sunday afternoon magazine show, WIDE WIDE WORLD, hosted by Dave Garroway. This episode salutes The Western and is from 1958. Gary Cooper is publicizing "The Hanging Tree" and John Wayne is there for "Rio Bravo". Gene Autry is there because he owns the town! It was NBC, I wonder if it was in color.

Ward Bond, Garry Cooper, Gene Autry, John Wayne, and Gabby Hayes.

Magazine article:

YouTube: A really poor copy of the program. Roy Rogers is in it, but I can't tell if it is a clip, or if he is really there, and in the background later with the gang. It is a very interesting show with movie western actors and TV stars from syndication and the three networks.

Rodd Redwing, who was a recurring character in THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP, is said to be the fastest man alive with a gun, who can draw and fire a live round and hit a target. A notable difference vs being the fastest draw. Redwing performs some trick shooting in The Western show.

Screenwriter

Wow, great find and research on this Bob! Tremendously interesting, it must have been a sensation for Westerns fans in 1958. I was only 2 that year, but I can well imagine how I would have felt watching this as, say, an eight year old boy. The video isn't too bad for the most part and I had to turn down the audio, which is something we often struggle with in old Ampex video tape sources. Thank you for posting this!

I see that this series was created by NBC head Pat Weaver in 1955...he being the father of actress Sigourney Weaver.

The only damp squib for me was that old !*#&!#*[email protected]$$$$ Jack Warner...you just know that more than a few of those stars would have liked to lasso him and drag him behind a horse for a mile...which should have happened at some point. What a Hollywood !*#&!#*[email protected]$$$$ he was!

Screenwriter

SON OF PALEFACE-1952, 95 minutes, Technicolor, Paramount. Available on DVD and Blu-Ray, from Kino.

I consider SON OF PALEFACE to be the last Roy Rogers, as Roy Rogers, movie. IMDB claims Roy's character is named, 'Roy Barton', but I didn't hear the name used in the movie, or see it in the credits. Star, Bob Hope never really addresses Roy at all. The bad gal and guy refer to him as the Federal Man, even though we are told Roy is working for the state. All the regular good guy characters call him Roy, and Trigger's gear is marked RR.

Roy is an investigator for the Governor, Jonathan Hale, and tasked with stopping a gang of masked outlaws, led by 'The Torch'. Lloyd Corrigan, a regular player in Roy's Republics, is Roy's partner and they masquerade as singer and snake oil salesman.

The Son of Paleface, Junior, Bob Hope, comes west to claim his daddy's, the original Paleface, hidden fortune. Roy uses Junior's legacy to bait his trap for the Torch, who turns out to be, dance hall entertainer, Jane Russell.

Old coot, Paul E. Burns, is on hand too.

Trigger, "the kid with the bleached blonde tail", and Bob Hope make a great comedy team.

The outlaw hideout under the covered bridge, with a secret passage leading to Russell's room, is a neat gimmick, and would fit right in with any Republic western or serial.

Bill Williams is Russell's henchman.

Bill Williams starred in THE ADVENTURES OF KIT CARSON with Don Diamond, and in the SEA HUNT inspired series ASSIGNMENT UNDERWATER.

Williams was married to Barbara Hale.

SON OF PALEFACE was a follow up to Hope's PALEFACE-1948, which also co-starred Jane Russell.

Supporting Actor

Having not seen it in decades, I picked up the Kino "Son of Paleface" (1952) blu. Frankly, I got more of a kick out of Rogers' participation than Hope's rather manic schtick. First saw the film on television when I was quite young. My mother used to insist to me that there was a Bob Hope film specifically titled "Buttons and Bows." I think I scoured the TV Guide listings for at least two or three years hoping it might show up, before I finally concluded she must have gotten her wires crossed, and was indeed remembering "Son of Paleface" (a title of which she claimed no memory of whatsoever). Back in those days, I had no movie-oriented reference books to research with, and hardly even knew any existed. Anyway, when it comes to Bob Hope fare these days, I seem to respond better to his early stuff (late-30s/early-40s).

Roy and Dale appeared on an episode of Bob Hope's radio show in 1952, promoting the film. It's included on a big 20-disc collection I have that Radio Spirits put out about fifteen years ago. They sing a few songs from the soon-to-be-released film (but not "Buttons and Bows," oddly enough). Radio Spirits also more recently put out a collection of episodes of Roy Rogers own radio series (1951-52 version), of the same relative era. As much as I thoroughly love Roy and Dale, I found the radio series to be routine at best. The sour note (for me) was the addition of the comic sidekick, Jonah, played by familiar character actor Forrest Lewis. The role being of an old codger who was prone to telling ridiculously tall-tales. Obviously an attempt to channel a Gabby-esque type character. But I found him pretty insufferable, and about as funny as warmed-over death. If his presence could have been edited out of the programs, I'd probably find them far more agreeable. Speaking of 'old time radio,' I seem to also recall that Dale Evans was (for a while) a featured singer in the "Charley McCarthy" series, some time during the war years, pre-Roy. I think a lot of those are available too.

Supporting Actor

By the way, hope I didn't sound too disparaging towards actor Forrest Lewis. Although I loathe his character of Jonah in those "Roy Rogers" radio shows, he's usually a pretty likeable character actor, often showing up as meek, old store-clerks or mild-mannered old sodbusters in endless tv-shows. Always recognizable by his rather quirkily shaped ears.

There were three actors by the name of "Forrest" that I used to mix up a bit, before I finally got them straight in my mind... Forrest Lewis, Forrest Taylor, and Forrest Stanley. Lewis I've discussed, but Forrest Taylor was an absolutely omnipresent fixture in B-films of the 1930s and 1940s, showing up everywhere. Quite often as a b-western villain of the crooked banker or businessman type. Always enjoy seeing him pop up. One of those old-time pros who always delivers, even in small parts. Forrest Stanley was more of a silent-era guy, although he did get to play western villain once for Tom Mix, in the top-notch "Rider of Death Valley" (1932-Univ). He was leading man in a fair number of silents, especially opposite Marion Davies. This includes the rather cute "Beauty's Worth" (1922), a common, surviving public-domain title (but anyone interested in it should avoid the usual pd outfits and get Edward Lorusso's 'Undercrank' dvd release, with its sparkling print and nice Ben Model score). Anyway, at least I have the three "Forrest" dudes all properly pinned down these days. No more conflict. That eases my mind. Ditto the fact I no longer confuse actors Edward Earle and Edward Hearn.

Looking them all up at IMDB, they are all in my collection, though. I'll be on the look out. Funny how some actors and actresses don't have much come up in a general search with just their name. Might have had better luck if I searched some of the movies they were in. They might be pictured with the stars.

Cinematographer

By the way, hope I didn't sound too disparaging towards actor Forrest Lewis. Although I loathe his character of Jonah in those "Roy Rogers" radio shows, he's usually a pretty likeable character actor, often showing up as meek, old store-clerks or mild-mannered old sodbusters in endless tv-shows. Always recognizable by his rather quirkily shaped ears.

Screenwriter

Roy Rogers, along with other western stars, has a cameo in Bob Hope's ALIAS JESSE JAMES-1959, 92 minutes color by Deluxe released by United Artists.

I am not sure if it was out on Disc in a stand alone U.S. release. I have the old MGM VHS. It was out on DVD included this collection:

Bob Hope plays an insurance salesman who sells Jesse James, played by Wendall Corey, a life insurance policy with a huge payout. When Hope's boss finds out he sends Hope after Jesse, to buy back the policy. Jesse manages to steal the premium buy back money from Hope. Then he plans to kill Hope and identify Hope as being Jesse James and collect the insurance policy thru his intended, Rhonda Fleming. Gloria Talbot is in this too.

This one below is actually Gloria in the OKLAHOMAN with Joel McCrea:

Like SON OF PALEFACE , ALIAS JESSE JAMES is funnier than THE PALEFACE. The main draw for me in this movie is the western star filled shoot-out at the end.

Roy Rogers, before he was Roy Rogers, and The Sons of the Pioneers appeared in the Bing Crosby western RHYTHM ON THE RANGE-1936.

Supporting Actor

Honestly, I don't think any of Roy Rogers' 1950s sidekicks (Pat Brady, Pinky Lee, Gordon Jones, and ahem, Forrest Lewis) come close to the winning circle. But admittedly, the traditional 'sidekick' role makes for a pretty checkered lot, with more misses than hits.

I've somehow never gotten around to seeing "Alias Jesse James" (1959). But I've seen "Rhythm on the Range" (1936) many a time, and recall that brief moment we see Roy Rogers (and Bob Nolan, too) during the "I'm an Old Cowhand" number, alongside a fairly young Louis Prima. Although not too young, as Prima had already been making slews of Brunswick records since 1934, filling in that niche of small-group jazz with vocals accompaniment, similar to what Wingy Manone was doing on Vocalion. So many tunes written to be funny don't amuse me much, but "I'm an Old Cowhand" is an exception. Hilarious lyrics. I'm quite partial to Bing's 1930s films (moreso than later ones), and always liked "Rhythm on the Range," as it has some very solid comedy and music, along with some flavorful location scenes.

Although, Frances Farmer always seemed like an odd choice for leading lady in it, as I always tend to find her a bit serious and high-tone for the musical-comedy milieu. Compared to some of Bing's other leading ladies, like Shirley Ross and Mary Martin. But Farmer is perfectly fine in it, and quite elegant. It was early in her career and I suppose Paramount was trying her out in a variety of material. Not too long ago I saw her in a minor but decent little b-film, "Too Many Parents" (1936), which undoubtedly preceded it.

I'm thinking "Rhythm" was also the first time Bob Burns and Martha Raye were paired up. They were pretty funny, with the contrast of Burns' deadpan delivery style and Raye's rambunctiousness. Paramount put them together as comic support in several films, but also gave them the spotlight in "Mountain Music" (1937), which is a really funny, funny movie, with some priceless comic dialogue. Burns often referenced his hometown of Van Buren, Arkansas in his monologues. When I went through there many years back, I stopped at the town museum, and asked the lady curator a bit about him. She mentioned that a lot of folks were proud of his fame and his constant referencing his hometown, but there were also some that didn't cotton to his hillbilly-based humor, interpreting it as an offensive affront to their culture and heritage. Whatever. I tend to like him, though. I wish he'd made more comedies, although I think Paramount must have had other plans, putting him in some slow-gaited, rural-esque dramas like "The Arkansas Traveler" (1938) and "Our Leading Citizen" (1939). Like they were thinking more of a Will Rogers type career-path for him. I preferred the zany side of Burns.

Screenwriter

RHYTHM ON THE RANGE also includes an origin story for Bob Burn's, 'Bazooka', musical instrument.

'Bazooka' was picked up by the U.S. military, in World War II, as the common name for the Rocket Propelled Grenade Launcher.

Burns with his Bazooka, also appeared in BELL OF THE YUKON-1944 with William Marshall and Dinah Shore.

Burns and Martha Raye in a MOUNTAIN MUSIC ad.

Is this a Feg Murray cartoon below?

Things are quiet on the Roy Rogers front on GritTV. I am hoping they show the Trucolor SPRINGTIME IN THE SIERRAS-1947, again, soon. I want to record it direct to USB this time. It was a superior restored print, much better looking than the PD restorations done for Alpha and Film Chest.

Screenwriter

Jeff, lobby cards often had one generic logo type block or set of captions that were used on the many different photo cards and did not identify the actors in the scenes. I guess it saved some typesetting costs when printing variant posters and lobby cards.

Another one for SPRINGTIME and some other examples:

In this one the photo is actually from THE FAR FRONTIER.

Meanwhile, let's get back to Jane Frazee:

With Broderick Crawford. (I don't have a link, handy, but there is a fun picture blog out there with celebrities on bicycles.)

Screenwriter

Jeff, lobby cards often had one generic logo type block or set of captions that were used on the many different photo cards and did not identify the actors in the scenes. I guess it saved some typesetting costs when printing variant posters and lobby cards.

Supporting Actor

Since we've dipped into some early 'bit' roles of Roy Rogers, it might be worth mentioning his 'first' feature film appearance, in "The Old Homestead" (1935), produced by poverty-row outfit Liberty Pictures. Billed as 'Len Sly,' he actually does get a fair amount of face-time throughout the film, alongside his Sons of the Pioneers cohorts. Alpha released a copy of this, although the print is awfully worn and splicey, with often muffled audio that makes it even rougher sledding.

The storyline is old-hat. The familiar tale of a country-boy singer who goes to the big city, becomes a radio star, and gets a swell head, wrecking his romance with his longtime sweetie. Lawrence Gray seemed awfully miscast in the lead, completely devoid of any believable bucolic nature. Nor did the script do him any favors. I usually don't mind Gray. He was generally agreeable in a number of late-silents and early talkies I've seen him in. On the distaff side, pert and pleasant Mary Carlisle was the leading lady, and cheery Wheeler-and-Woolsey stalwart Dorothy Lee played (atypically) the vamp. Always like seeing those two gals. I had the happy fortune (film buff that I am) to meet both of them, years ago. Also in the cast was Fuzzy Knight, a little less aggravating than usual. Anyway, the film itself was reasonably well-produced for a poverty-row cheapie, but it still just didn't really click at all, due to the poorly delineated leading man.

I've always been curious about these Liberty productions, all helmed by producer M.H. Hoffman (who also made that series of Hoot Gibson westerns at Allied, in the early-1930s). The company was one of those that got swooped up by Herbert Yates into the formation of Republic, alongside Mascot, Majestic and such. The Liberty titles are often pretty rare, but they seem to be a cut above the usual poverty-row efforts. The most common one that used to circulate was "The Crime of Dr. Crespi" (1935), but they were also responsible for the Ellery Queen item "The Spanish Cape Mystery" (1935), although I think it was technically distributed by Republic, after the takeover.

Always wanted to see one Liberty film, "No Ransom" (1934), starring Leila Hyams, Phillips Holmes, and Jack LaRue, as I got a lobby card to it back in the 1980s. But the scuttlebutt is that it is a 'lost' film. Another Liberty film, "Cheaters" (1934) stars William Boyd, June Collyer, Dorothy Mackaill, Alan Mowbray and Guinn Williams. I hope this one survives. Another one with an amazing (for film buffs) cast is "School for Girls" (1934), with Sydney Fox, Lois Wilson, Paul Kelly, Toby Wing, Dorothy Lee, Lona Andre, Kathleen Burke, Anne Shirley, and old-timers like Anna Q. Nilsson, William Farnum, Charles Ray and such. Never seen these latter two circulate, but I'd love to see them. One of the last Liberty features has the gloriously un-PC title "Dizzy Dames" (1936). With Inez Courtney and Florine McKinney in it, it sounds like potential fun. It's supposedly around, but I have yet to see it.

Screenwriter

Since we've dipped into some early 'bit' roles of Roy Rogers, it might be worth mentioning his 'first' feature film appearance, in "The Old Homestead" (1935), produced by poverty-row outfit Liberty Pictures. Billed as 'Len Sly,' he actually does get a fair amount of face-time throughout the film, alongside his Sons of the Pioneers cohorts. Alpha released a copy of this, although the print is awfully worn and splicey, with often muffled audio that makes it even rougher sledding.

The storyline is old-hat. The familiar tale of a country-boy singer who goes to the big city, becomes a radio star, and gets a swell head, wrecking his romance with his longtime sweetie. Lawrence Gray seemed awfully miscast in the lead, completely devoid of any believable bucolic nature. Nor did the script do him any favors. I usually don't mind Gray. He was generally agreeable in a number of late-silents and early talkies I've seen him in. On the distaff side, pert and pleasant Mary Carlisle was the leading lady, and cheery Wheeler-and-Woolsey stalwart Dorothy Lee played (atypically) the vamp. Always like seeing those two gals. I had the happy fortune (film buff that I am) to meet both of them, years ago. Also in the cast was Fuzzy Knight, a little less aggravating than usual. Anyway, the film itself was reasonably well-produced for a poverty-row cheapie, but it still just didn't really click at all, due to the poorly delineated leading man.

I've always been curious about these Liberty productions, all helmed by producer M.H. Hoffman (who also made that series of Hoot Gibson westerns at Allied, in the early-1930s). The company was one of those that got swooped up by Herbert Yates into the formation of Republic, alongside Mascot, Majestic and such. The Liberty titles are often pretty rare, but they seem to be a cut above the usual poverty-row efforts. The most common one that used to circulate was "The Crime of Dr. Crespi" (1935), but they were also responsible for the Ellery Queen item "The Spanish Cape Mystery" (1935), although I think it was technically distributed by Republic, after the takeover.

Always wanted to see one Liberty film, "No Ransom" (1934), starring Leila Hyams, Phillips Holmes, and Jack LaRue, as I got a lobby card to it back in the 1980s. But the scuttlebutt is that it is a 'lost' film. Another Liberty film, "Cheaters" (1934) stars William Boyd, June Collyer, Dorothy Mackaill, Alan Mowbray and Guinn Williams. I hope this one survives. Another one with an amazing (for film buffs) cast is "School for Girls" (1934), with Sydney Fox, Lois Wilson, Paul Kelly, Toby Wing, Dorothy Lee, Lona Andre, Kathleen Burke, Anne Shirley, and old-timers like Anna Q. Nilsson, William Farnum, Charles Ray and such. Never seen these latter two circulate, but I'd love to see them. One of the last Liberty features has the gloriously un-PC title "Dizzy Dames" (1936). With Inez Courtney and Florine McKinney in it, it sounds like potential fun. It's supposedly around, but I have yet to see it.